


‘Cause The World Might Do Me In

by Archanon



Series: Giving Up The Ghost [1]
Category: Mystery Skulls Animated
Genre: Gen, Hints of Arthur/Lewis and Arthur/Lewis/Vivi, I'm moving this so if tumblr explodes it's not gone, Not Canon Compliant, Written after the first video
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-20
Updated: 2019-10-20
Packaged: 2020-12-24 15:49:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,010
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21102008
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Archanon/pseuds/Archanon
Summary: Arthur has a bad day in a cave.





	‘Cause The World Might Do Me In

**Author's Note:**

> I found these on my tumblr and am moving them for safekeeping. Written, like, immediately after the first video so definitely not compliant with anything after that given we had zero information to go on at the time. But I had fun with it.

“Alright, gang!” Lewis’ voice rang out cheerfully. Arthur suppressed a groan. That was Lewis’ _I found a mystery to solve_ voice. “I’ve heard there’s something spooky about the local caves! We should go check it out!”

Neither Vivi nor Mystery objected, of course, distracted by their lunch as they were. _No, that’s not fair, Arthur,_ he told himself. _They’ll want to check it out anyway. And you’d normally be all for it too, so if you’re not going to tell them you’re not feeling up to it stop complaining._

He didn’t speak up, of course. He didn’t have the fortitude it would take to convince them it wasn’t his usual scaredy-cat attitude making him want to stay away. (And yeah, he wasn’t ashamed to admit that. His propensity to run away had worked out for the group often enough, and it’s not like Mystery wasn’t on the same page as him most of the time.)

“Okay!” Vivi chirped, finishing her sandwich and stepping up to Lewis, where she went to her tiptoes and planted a kiss on his cheek. “Sounds like fun!”

And there was the reason for Arthur’s mood. It had been two days since his best friends had officially gotten together, and okay, he’d seen it coming for months but apparently that didn’t matter to his emotions. He’d known his crush on Vivi was hopeless and honestly he wouldn’t trade her friendship – or Lewis’ - for the world but that didn’t make it not hurt. He really was pathetic. Couldn’t even be happy for them. (He steadfastly refused to think about what it might mean that he felt the same flavor of sad when he thought about Lewis as when he thought about Vivi.)

“Yeah, sure,” Arthur agreed. “Sounds fun.”

If he lacked the usual amount of enthusiasm he’d have displayed, well, Vivi and Lewis either didn’t notice or had guessed he didn’t want to talk about it yet and were letting him be as they filed into the van. Mystery gave him a concerned glance, and he shook his head. _I don’t want to talk about it yet._

The dog stared at him for a moment longer, then turned and hopped into the van. Arthur followed, sprawling into the back seat and resting his head in its accustomed place on the back of the front seat.

“It’s about an hour away, they said,” Lewis was saying to Vivi. “They said the roads should be good even though not a lot of people go there anymore but keep an eye on the map for me anyway?”

“I’m on it!” Vivi smiled, reaching in to the glove compartment and retrieving the map of the area they’d been using.

“And I’ll keep an eye on the road as usual,” Arthur volunteered before Lewis could say anything.

Lewis glanced at him, concern in his eyes and Arthur put on his best _don’t worry about me_ grin. Lewis hesitated for a moment, then grinned back. “And with your eagle eyes on the road, we’ve got nothing to worry about!”

Once Lewis’ eyes were off him, Arthur’s smile shrank but didn’t vanish entirely. Lewis didn’t say things he didn’t mean, and it helped to know that he still had a place here no matter how he felt. As the van started up, he fixed his eyes on the road. Maybe it would distract him from his thoughts.

——————

An hour later, Arthur’s brief burst of a good mood had evaporated. It had been an intensely boring drive and nothing interesting had shown up to tear him out of his thoughts. Vivi and Mystery were singing along to some catchy song the radio was playing and Lewis was bobbing his head in time as they pulled up and turned the van off, but all Arthur could do was sigh as he followed them out of the van and into the caves.

The caves were unsurprisingly frightening. Arthur wasn’t sure what it said about his life that at this point he was unsurprised to feel overwhelming terror but it was true. (When he was feeling more cheerful he even perversely enjoyed the adrenaline rush. At least in hindsight.) Still, he stuck close behind Lewis as they ventured deeper, the steadiness of his friend’s presence helping to keep him grounded. 

That didn’t help much when a swarm of bats came out of nowhere and blinded them all.

Mystery’s barks mixed with his and Vivi’s shouts as Arthur flailed at the bats. They flashed by his face too fast to register but – he could have _sworn_ that one’s eyes had been glowing green. Before he had a chance to think about it, Lewis’ voice rang out.

“They stole my flashlight! Hold on to yours, gang!”

Arthur froze for a moment, just long enough for the words to register, but it was too long. The bats, as if guided by malicious fortune, chose that instant to tear his out of his hand and god, their eyes were definitely glowing. He wasn’t sure but he thought it might have scratched him, too. Okay, time to move. Arthur fought his way through the bats until he bumped into Lewis, finding Vivi already clutching his arm and shivering, and got himself back-to-back with his friend to fend off the rest of the swarm.

_Where’s Mystery?_

The question was answered a few moments later when the bats left and Arthur spotted Mystery cowering behind a rock a few feet away. But in his mouth was-

“You saved my flashlight!” Vivi said happily, running over. “Thank you so much!”

“I still lost mine, though,” Lewis said, frowning. “Arthur?”

Arthur jumped at being addressed and hastily stepped away from Lewis as much as he wanted to stay close to their leader’s reassuring presence. “N-no, they got mine too. One left is better than nothing I guess?”

“True, but I have an idea anyway,” Lewis said, pulling a few things out of his pocket. A few moments later, he had a lit torch blazing merrily away. The light was comforting, and the heat was even more – Arthur hadn’t even realized how cold he’d gotten until just then. He rubbed his hands together, trying to generate heat, but his left hand felt like a block of ice anyway.

The group continued farther in, even with Arthur’s growing misgivings, until they came to a fork in the path. They stopped.

“We should split up and check both paths,” Lewis said, and Arthur gulped. He really did not want to get split up right now. “Arthur and I will go left. Vivi, you and Mystery go right – that way we’ll each have a light.”

And okay, Arthur suddenly felt a bit better about this.

They walked in silence for a bit as the path sloped upwards, Arthur staying close behind Lewis as they did but also avoiding meeting his friend’s eyes as the silence grew. It probably would have been awkward if it the silence didn’t feel like something was watching them. Arthur was almost grateful when Lewis broke it.

“Arthur, I know we haven’t really had a chance to talk since Vivi and I got together but… you know this doesn’t change anything, right? You’re still our best friend.”

And wow, Arthur suddenly wished he had the silence back. “I know, don’t worry. I’ll be fine once I get used to it.”

_Even if you have everything I ever wanted and I’m just the comic relief,_ he added to himself, and rubbed his left arm as he felt pins and needles prickle up and down it.

Lewis offered him a half-smile, uncertain. “Alright, if you say so. Just know that you can talk to either of us about it, yeah?”

Arthur tried to smile back but his lip barely twitched, and he looked away. Fortunately, he spotted an opening into a larger area ahead, and Lewis did too. They forged ahead to reach the top of the passage. It grew eerier as they went, though. Some of the rocks were glowing green. Arthur accidentally brushed one with his left hand and it stung; he quickly pulled his hand away.

_Of course he just knows how to avoid them,_ the thought came, as he stared at Lewis picking his way up ahead. _No spooky rock stings for perfect Lewis._

The passage opened up onto a ledge overlooking an enormous cavern. It was well lit by the eerie green glow which was _everywhere_. Arthur couldn’t tell if it was smoke or some kind of foam until he poked it and smeared slime on his hand. Ugh.

Lewis held the torch high and peered over the edge and his left arm, which had been ice, suddenly had fire travelling up from the fingers.

_Look at him there, so perfect, having everything he ever wanted that I’ll never have, _crossed his mind. _It would be so… easy…_

The fire had reached his elbow now, but his mouth was locked shut. He couldn’t scream in pain no matter how he tried.

_She’d be mine to take, afterward,_ the thought came. _All sad and lost, it would be easy to become the one who comforts her._

_It would be easy, _he thought, and then his arm was moving without his input as the fire reached his face and _no I don’t want this – I don’t want to lose him-_

-and he watched in horror as his arm pushed Lewis off the ledge and he fell-

-he felt half his mouth turn up in a horrible smile even as he tried, futilely, to reach out with his right hand but it was too late and the tears were coming-

-and then there was a horrible sharp pain and the fire was gone and Mystery was there, huge and terrifying and powerful (was that really Mystery), and _oh god that was his arm Mystery had taken his arm off_ and then a burst of pink light blew through the room-

Vivi screamed. Mystery roared and Arthur blacked out.

———-

Something was shaking him. He opened his eyes blearily to see Vivi’s face, the night sky behind her. “Arthur! Arthur, wake up, we need to get you to a hospital!”

He couldn’t formulate a response. Things were all blurry in his mind, and he tried to figure out what she could mean and –

Oh dear god his arm was missing. Mystery barked, holding the van door open, as Vivi helped him stumble towards it.

“I know you never let me drive,” she said, and _something about that sounded wrong but_\- “But you can’t drive right now. I bandaged you up but we gotta get back as fast as possible. Mystery, you’ll keep an eye on the road, right?”

Mystery stared at the two of them for a moment, something strange in his gaze, but a moment later Arthur decided he must have been imagining it. Mystery was the same as he ever was. So what was missing-

And then he remembered and he choked on air as the memories hit and he _remembered_ and oh god what had he done?

“V-Vivi, don’t worry about me, what about-“

She glanced over at him briefly and the puzzled expression shocked him to the core. “What about who?”

Arthur swallowed. He had to know. “What about Lewis?”

He saw concern in her eyes and part of him hoped that meant she remembered (part of him wanted her not to remember because she’d never forgive him, and then he’d lose both of them). “Arthur, you’ve lost a lot of blood if you’re imagining another person here. Calm down and I’ll get you to the hospital before you lose more!”

Arthur managed to keep his face from falling long enough to nod, and then curled up as much as he could in the seat of the car, hampered by the fact that he kept forgetting his arm was gone.

_I have to tell her._

_I can’t tell her, I don’t know why she forgot, it might break her._

_Oh god, Lewis, I’m sorry._

_I’m sorry. This is all my fault._

_I’m sorry._

_I’m sorry._


End file.
